Unexpected musical partnerships that rocked the charts
One of the most amazing things about music is the way it can thread in and out of public memory or fame, changing and adapting meaning over time while also maintaining a slice of the context in which it was made for future generations to enjoy.
It’s certainly great consolation for artists who release a song or an album and don’t receive the immediate feedback they were hoping for, as the possibility always remains for their music to reenter the pop culture conversation at any point in what’s called a “sleeper hit.”
There are so many sleeper hits and for varying reasons. Click through to see some of the slowest hits that climbed the charts way after their release.
The popular HBO show 'The Last of Us' featured a particularly emotional episode in 2023 which used Linda Ronstadt's 1970 song 'Long Long Time,' and that very night the song saw a 4,900% increase in streams on Spotify. According to the streaming service, the song saw the incredible spike between 11 pm and midnight ET the night the episode aired. In 1970, the song had previously spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Ronstadt a Grammy nomination, but the scene from 'The Last of Us,' in which two characters perform the song, catapulted it back to the top of the charts some five decades later.
The previous record holder before Bush was Wham and their seasonal favorite song 'Last Christmas,' which completed a 36-year run to the top at the turn of 2021.
The popular track was released in September 2017 but didn't chart until after it appeared in the 2019 rom-com 'Someone Great.' By September 2019, it had reached no. 1.
In a peculiar case, Ed Sheeran's song 'Thinking Out Loud' from his second album hovered on the Top 40 while a different single ('Don't') was promoted, but after 19 weeks it finally reached no. 1—marking the longest time a song has spent on the Top 40 consecutively before reaching the top spot.
The 1983 reggae cover of Neil Diamond's 1967 track enjoyed success upon its released, reaching no. 1 in the UK and seeing moderate success in the US. Then five years later, a Phoenix radio program director kicked off the “would've been, should've been” fad of reviving early '80s singles, and the song peaked again at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Irma Thomas recorded this song back in 1964, but it fell short of being the hit it deserved to be. Then, in 2018, after being used in the sci-fi anthology series 'Black Mirror,' it began to appear in other films and TV shows, and it reached no. 2 on Billboard's Top TV Songs.
The country music duo's song was first released in April 2012 and reached no. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, but dropped off the Hot 100 entirely in February 2013. A couple months later, Nelly remixed the song, and the song peaked at no. 4 on the Hot 100 chart in its 34th week, one of the slowest climbs to the top five in the chart's history.
This now-famous track was released as a single in November 1984, and took 17 weeks to reach no. 1 in the UK in March 1985. In that time, the band went from underground to commercial success, and front man Pete Burns reportedly claimed the label was so unenthusiastic about the track that he'd taken out a loan to record it with production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. It also peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 at no. 11 in August.
The popular rock song was originally released in November 2010 but didn't chart in the US until 10 months later in September 2011, debuting at no. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100. It spent five months leaving and reentering at the bottom of the chart, until it disappeared completely in early 2012, but with commercials and its feature in the 2012 Olympics, it cracked the Top 40 in 2013 and peaked at no. 17.
Imagine Dragons' rock track 'Radioactive' was released in 2012 without much fanfare. But thanks to various commercials and trailers, it became a sleeper hit, peaking at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 after 42 weeks on the charts, breaking the record for the slowest ascension to Top 5 in chart history.
The Canadian singer's debut single was released in the spring of 2015, but only debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 in August (at no. 95) and took six more months to peak at no. 5 in early 2016.
The same goes for her follow-up single, which was released in July 2016, but didn't enter the top 10 until February 2017.
One of the earliest sleeper hits ever is Don Howard's 1952 recording of 'Oh Happy Day,' which was just his voice and an amateur acoustic guitar and was only released regionally. It was sudden and huge support from teenagers in Howard's hometown of Cleveland that led to the song's rapid rise in popularity, and by 1953 there were four hit recordings of the same song circulating, including Howard's.
This now-famous song wasn't a huge hit when it was first released in 1980 on their debut album. It had entered the chart on at no. 85, but later on it became a popular choice for an advertising jingle, particularly for Budweiser beer, and since then it has become one of the most popular rock anthems of all time.
The 1987 single performed poorly in both the US and the UK when it was released that September, but as the band's popularity grew steadily in 1988, it became a sleeper hit in the US and reached the top 10 of the Billboard charts. It was then rereleased in the UK, and charted within the top 40 there.
Italian rock band Måneskin performed a cover of the 1967 song (first popularized by the Four Seasons) on 'X Factor Italia' and released a studio version on their 2017 EP. Following the band's Eurovision victory in May 2021, the song started appearing on music charts across Europe and beyond—reaching no. 1 in many countries' weekly charts—and viral success on TikTok only helped.
Released on April 8, 2008, Lady Gaga's debut single spent almost five months on the Billboard Hot 100 before finally peaking at the chart's summit in January 2009. Today it's one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Originally released in August 2011 as the second single from the duo's debut studio album, their song only reached no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2013, after the international success of their other song 'Thrift Shop' drew attention to their previous work.
The 1981 single had largely flopped, reaching no. 79 in its first chart run, but five years later 'Family Ties' used it as the romantic theme song for Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) on the popular NBC series and it ended up topping the Hot 100 in January 1987.
The haunting ballad didn't capture the public's attention quickly in 1994, but word of mouth and increased radio play brought it out of its 16-week run in the Top 100 (13 within Top 40, eight within Top 10), it finally hit no. 1, and stayed there for seven weeks.
The veteran English singer's 1985 hit was featured in the fourth season of 'Stranger Things,' exposing it to a fresh set of ears, and it quickly shattered UK records, reaching no. 1 on the charts.
Bush is also the record holder for the longest time taken for a single to reach no. 1 on the Official UK Singles Chart, at 37 years.
While Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' has been a Christmas classic for decades, it only climbed its way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time in 2023. The song, first released in 1958, suddenly became a chart-topper after 65 years. That's a serious sleeper! Lee was just 13 years old when she sang the song, written by Johnny Marks, and was 78 when it hit number one. This makes her the oldest woman ever to top the Hot 100.
'General Hospital' is to thank for the total resuscitation of this sultry duet—it had dropped off the Hot 100 entirely—as it soundtracked a Luke-related plot and subsequently sent the year-old song to no. 1 in February 1983 after an uneventful 23-week chart run.
Originally released in 2014 on the band's debut EP, this indie-pop track gained popularity some seven years later when it went viral on TikTok, and it climbed the charts around the world, peaking on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart at no. 6. The band had broken up but reunited in 2021 and included the song on their EP 'Try Again,' in May 2022.
This sweet-sad song was released in July 2012, but only reached the Top 20 in November 2013. It peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2014, but the single remains Passenger's one-hit wonder.
This track released in 2015 saw a huge spike in listeners and soared up the UK and Spotify Viral charts in 2021 following the track's success on TikTok.
Released as a single on June 23, 2017, as part of Young's debut album, the song found new fame on TikTok in 2021 and peaked at no. 24 in the US Top 40. That same year it was used for the Japanese anime series 'SK8 the Infinity.'
Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis didn't promote this song in 2012 as a single on her second studio album, but nine years later it earned single status. After experiencing a resurgence on TikTok, it started to climb international record charts and was subsequently certified Gold in the US in March 2021.
This song off Meghan Trainor's 2014 debut album also called 'Title' was not released as a single and was largely undiscovered except by those who bought the album. She even filmed a music video years ago but her management decided not to release it. Thanks to TikTok and a viral dance, the video was uploaded online in December 2021.
Originally released by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters in 1958, the moderate hit peaked at no. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960, and no. 6 on the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart that same year. Chubby Checker's cover version of the song also reached no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960, and again two years later—largely because adults finally caught on to the popular dance!
Sources: (NPR) (Official Charts) (The Hollywood Reporter)
Songs that climbed the charts way after their release
Can you guess which song finally topped the charts after 65 years?
MUSIC Sleeper hits
One of the most amazing things about music is the way it can thread in and out of public memory or fame, changing and adapting meaning over time while also maintaining a slice of the context in which it was made for future generations to enjoy.
It’s certainly great consolation for artists who release a song or an album and don’t receive the immediate feedback they were hoping for, as the possibility always remains for their music to reenter the pop culture conversation at any point in what’s called a “sleeper hit.”
There are so many sleeper hits and for varying reasons. Click through to see some of the slowest hits that climbed the charts way after their release.